Philip Rucker Exits Washington Post For New Role At CNN​on January 21, 2025 at 2:30 pm

Philip Rucker has joined CNN as senior vice president of editorial strategy and news, departing The Washington Post after 20 years.

Rucker has most recently been national editor at the Post, the latest top journalist to leave the publication. Others who have exited recently include Josh Dawsey, who joined The Wall Street Journal, and Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, who joined The Atlantic. Managing editor Matea Gold left for The New York Times, where she is now Washington editor.

At the Post, Rucker also has served as deputy national editor, senior Washington correspondent and White House bureau chief. He joined the Post in 2005 as a local news reporter. He also played a central role in teams that have won three Pulitzer Prizes, including in 2024 for a series examining the AR-15; in 2022 for coverage of the January 6th attack on the Capitol; and in 2018 for coverage of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. He’s the co-author, with Carol Leonnig, of A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America; and the follow up I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year.

Rucker will be based in the CNN Washington, D.C. bureau. He will start on Feb. 10.